FINALLY, AN UPDATE

On March 5, 2011 our group is reading Lost and Found by Andrew Clements. Our next meeting will be Wednesday March 23!

Our next book is The Cricket In Time Square. More information coming soon!

NEXT MEETING

Our next meeting will be Wednesday, 11/17/10 at 6:30PM in the cafeteria.

Please join us.

Our next book will be The Watsons Go To Birmingham 1963 by Paul Christopher Curtis.

More about that later!
Mary Ann Rupcich

A List of All The Books, So Far!

1. The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs
Betty Birney

2. Christopher Mouse, The Tale of A Small Traveler
William Wise

3. Ribsy
Beverly Cleary

4. James and The Giant Peach
Roald Dahl

5. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Kate DiCamillo

6. The Ghost, The White House and Me
Judith St. George

7. Lawn Boy
Gary Paulsen

8. The BFG
Roald Dahl

9. The Great Gilly Hopkins
Katherine Patterson

10. Jack On The Tracks
Jack Gantos

11. Little House In The Big Woods
Laura Ingalls Wilder

12. Pinocchio
Carlo Collodi

13. Loser
Jerry Spinelli

14. The Magician's Elephant
Kate DiCamillo

15. Shiloh
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

16. The Trumpet of The Swan
E. B. White

FIRST MEETING OF 2010-11 SCHOOL YEAR

About 20 families including 35 children gathered on Wednesday 10/6/10 in the school cafeteria to talk about and celebrate Shiloh, our first book of the year!

Dave Bakke from the State Journal Register visited the event and the linked article about our club resulted. Thanks to the Tamam family for sharing about their involvement with our Family Read Aloud Club.

http://www.sj-r.com/bakke/x835151729/Dave-Bakke-School-book-club-helps-mom-too

The Davis family even brought their two beagle puppies to add a touch of realism to the event.

One of the puppies, Max (I think), even had stitches on his leg in almost the same place Shiloh had stitches. Dalton got down on the floor and demonstrated how Marty played with Shiloh. Daisy did what any beagle puppy would do, started licking his face and trying to get under him!

Parents talked about the book while kids drew pictures to share later. Some adults thought the book was a little heavy in parts and wondered about "editing" as they read. Others thought that it was not as "heavy" as some of our past selections and that the kids could handle the realism.

The kids seemed to focus on the German Shepherd's cruelty to Shiloh rather than that mean old Judd (the bad guy)!

Puppy Chow was enjoyed along with cookies and milk as was the playground until it got too dark.

Our new book is The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White and will be available on Friday 10/8/10 for $5.25. Contact Mary Ann Rupcich at marupcich@springfield.k12.il.us to receive your copy.

Shiloh, Our First Book of the Year!!!

About 30 families at Springfield Ball Charter School are reading Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor as our first book of the year. Our first celebration will be Wednesday, October 6 at 6:30PM in the Cafeteria.

At that time, our next book, The Trumpet of The Swan by E.B White will be available for purchase ($5.25). Audios of this book will be available to borrow.

Remember, reading aloud with children even after they can read by themselves is the best way to encourage them to become lifelong readers who choose to read!

Please let us know how the reading is going and what you and your family are thinking and talking about as you progress through the book!

Mary Ann Rupcich

MAGICIAN'S ELEPHANT

This is a nonreligious book that deals in miracles. People are the ones with the power to work magic. In an era when the feeling among us is commonly that "the world is broken," this story of a broken world that fixes itself through the goodness of people is heartwarming, uplifting and compelling.

I kept forgetting that this was a children's book as I read it yesterday. And now, I am trying to imagine reading it with a child. I think the story, the language both are straightforward enough that children would "get it" at least on a literal level. Perhaps what makes a better than average children's book is if there is more there for adults to take away.

I think this one had that. The characters are richly drawn and believable within a make-believe story. The make-believe story is believable even if we must believe that an elephant falls through the roof of an opera house during a magic show and then ...

The magic gets better as the story draws to its climax!

One of my favorite parts is when the six year old main character, Peter, decides that war, "soldiering did not, in any way, seem like a man's work...Instead, it seemed like foolishness-a horrible, terrible, nightmarish foolishness." Peter says of it, "I look upon it and wish that it could be undone." Out of the mouths of babes...

Thank you, Kate DiCamillo. You did it again!

Mary Ann

Jack On The Tracks...weird!

At times, I was laughing out loud at this book...Sunny Winterbottom!?!

At other times, I couldn't believe what I was reading...the kid is strange, cruel, nuts!!!

I am definitely in the mood to be inspired, uplifted, impressed and I think Kate DiCamillo is the just the writer who can accomplish it!

Come get your copy tonight!

Mary Ann